Today I scoured the three corners of the innernette for natural skin care products that are easy to make and a pleasure to use. Some products I post will be things I've bought, tested, and love. I'll update this thread from time to time as I find more things to help you look your best for the big event!

Here's the link to last year's post about shaving: Smooth LeggiesPicked up this lovely, pomegranate and raspberry scented shave cream a couple months ago and it smells good enough to eat. Well, almost.

Once upon a time, a friend was/is in the pyramid scheme business called Usana. They have this amazing product made from rice bran that is a natural skin brightener and exfoliator. I had a difficult time tracking down something similar (and more affordable) until recently. Bonus: You can make your own!

I tried this scrub today. (Picked it up since I saw poms on it and I'm kind of obsessed with pomegranates.) It worked beautifully and the scent is clean and delicate.

You can use the rice bran by filling a little cotton sachet, soaking the bag in tepid water, and scrubbing your face GENTLY with it. Or you can mix it with a light serum or carrier oil (such as jojoba or coconut oil) in a little bowl or your palm, and use your fingers to make light circles on your skin. (It can be used to exfoliate the skin all over your body as well. Use it on the backs of your arms if you get those annoying red or white bumps on the backs of your upper arms. These are usually caused by irritated hair follicles where dead skin and sebum pile up and clog your pores, allowing bacteria to thrive.)

I'm currently into this facial scrub for my face: I prefer the one in the tube rather than the tub to keep the product as germ free as possible. My face is so smooth and velvety after using it! ( I use it 2-3 times a week since I'm getting older and my skin needs the extra help!)

It is best to exfoliate at night, before bed. Of course, every day, wear a broad spectrum SPF.

Feel free to share your own ideas and experiences.

We'll be covering grooming as well since some of the guys (and ladies!) forget that to cross/cosplay successfully, one must groom hair, skin, and nails properly, and well in advance.

One of the best ways to care for your skin is to pay attention to what goes into your body. Minimize sugar intake (believe me, I know the Sysiphian task of pushing the boulder up that mountain), take care to avoid drinking your calories (so imbibe plenty of water or green tea), and eat lots of tropical fruit to help skin fight off UV rays, and blueberries and pomegranates to achieve a glowing complexion.

Nutrition:If you know you are deficient in some vitamins or minerals, take some supplements. (I'm iron deficient, so I take chelated iron pills every day.) Need to fortify hair, skin, and nails? Take hair, skin, and nail supplements available at your local CVS and Walgreens.

Eating well and nourishing your body with the proper nutrition helps you feel good and energized! Begin with small changes and you'll notice your body craving more good changes.

We'll start with something simple: Alton Brown's Buff Smoothie (One of my favorite pre-workout breakfasts) I use almond milk instead of soy. I freeze the rest into ice pops and then eat one to cool off post-workout. Eat or drink three times a week or everyday. Change it up with other fruit or add chia and flax seeds.

Fitness: Do a plank every night before bed. Add 5-10 seconds every day. Once that becomes a habit, add more exercises to the routine.

Alton Brown is awesome, remember Good Eats? Man I haven't watched the Food Network in years... are Emeril and Mario Panchetta still on?

All the twitter pages from pro Japanese cross-dressing boys I wanna grope cosplayers say the same thing... if you wanna do it right, get a full-body salon wax job, down to the last nook and crank shaft.

Working out is probably the most overlooked aspect of passing off as a sexy womango~ I need to tone up my body before even thinking of slipping in a cute outfit and/or putting cosmetics again.

Me & Nomake are gonna move-in to an apartment in San Francisco next year and live the dream as cute working class bachelorettes that dance & party, and have awesome pillow-fights after eating 2 tons of ice cream while watching Clone Wars on DVD.

Yea! Alton Brown is the best. I have two or three of his books and am working on acquiring more.

There's a great Good Eats episode called "Live and Let Diet". It focuses on what to eat to stay healthy instead of what not to eat. 😊

I agree with you, Xiao. I'm sick of this bullcrap from lazy girls that say,' Love me for who I am, not just my body. I'm beautiful no matter my size!" Even when they look like a whale. Ugh. Please. That's incredibly selfish. If that girl has someone that loves her and she doesn't take care of herself and dies early cause of that, where does that leave the people that cared about her? 😩 And I might add, the UK did a study that found that genetics isn't an excuse for being fat. Fat families that adopted kids tended to have kids that grew to be fat because of poor eating habits modeled by the adoptive parents. There you have it.

Don't forget the amazing double standard where women demand that you accept them for whatever their shape is, but you're never allowed to comment on it unless it's overbearingly positive. Dear lord, the look I got when I called a previous gf "fat"... because she wasn't working out, god damn it. That's how you get fat: by not taking care of yourself. You can be a big girl and still bust your ass at the gym. There's a visual difference between "big" and "fat".

I once saw this same pitiful excuse for a human being running the track with a cigarette in her mouth.

Tessou pulled a picture of me out of the wedding album and said, "You're fat here." Yeah, I owned up to it. The problem for people like me, who are petite, having excess fat does not look good on us, ever. It's as though it all finds its way under my chin. I'm at 130 and if I lose ten pounds, I look anorexic. If I gain a mere five, I look fat. 125 is a good weight for me. I have enough fat to still have boobs and also look good in my clothes. I don't like being smaller than a size 4, or my hips look way to big in proportion to my waist. It's just scary.

I've had a couple of friends that I've found very pretty/handsome even if they have those jelly rolls on the tummy; I think it's all in how you perceive yourself, if you think you're good looking and don't care what people say more power too you. But you guys are really right! Being in shape does wonders for self-esteem and makes you feel more comfortable in this squishy vessel we have till we hit the coffin, lol.

I indulge myself in all sorts of drinks but have cut down on the eating; I think mass is what ultimately gets you fat... a banana-choco shake or a couple of Shangri-la sodas won't hurt as much as those huuuuge party-size bag of Lays I used to scarf with my kitty!

I've never tried those mud-pickle eyes mascara skin therapy products, but I remember the 1st time I went to visit my cousin's Spa... after I got out of the sauna/jacuzzi room, my skin felt like it had been flushed with an F5 button!

I'm not making fun of them. I don't think it's right for them to shove their body image problems down our throats. It is also irresponsible to be so big. And no, it's not beautiful. It's disgusting. We live in a time of too much convenience and over abundance.

That's a big reason I had to leave the old ex behind. He would eat, drink and smoke weed excessively. He even admitted to not caring if he had a heart attack at 33. How do you think that made me feel? That he was willing to hurt not only himself but those that care about him. That's bullshit and I was not about to put up with that crap. So I left. I knew I didn't want to be a young widow. Hell no.I can understand being a little overweight, but to the point where you can't even find clothes in the shop to fit you? Careless. It's usually a symptom of a bigger problem.

Their only responding to their body image because of said comments, so it's only feeding to a unnecessary fire. Got a problem with big girls? Cool, no need to plug it in every post about it when it's not really needed, specially about a thread of just useless soaps and what not.

Their only responding to their body image because of said comments, so it's only feeding to a unnecessary fire. Got a problem with big girls? Cool, no need to plug it in every post about it when it's not really needed, specially about a thread of just useless soaps and what not.

Just use a bar of soap and blam, good to go.

Why you no listen? I said I don't have a problem with big girls, I just don't think it's cool when people don't make an effort to be healthy. Stick thin ain't hot either. Healthy and strong, in my opinion, is best no matter the shape. Entiendes?

Soap doesn't go far enough for my skin these days. I need something to help slough off the dead flakes so the new skin can shine through. (The cell turnover is slowing as I get older.) I'll be discussing make-up, shape-wear, lingerie, manicures, essential grooming habits, etc.

You're welcome to share your favorite soap on here, if you like!

Grabbed some cotton sachets for the rice bran. I'll let you know how it performs on my skin in a week and then again in two weeks. I'd like to see how well it evens out my skin tone. The dark sun spots should fade eventually with this treatment.

Their only responding to their body image because of said comments, so it's only feeding to a unnecessary fire. Got a problem with big girls? Cool, no need to plug it in every post about it when it's not really needed, specially about a thread of just useless soaps and what not.

Just use a bar of soap and blam, good to go.

This could have just been a PM. I don't see the need to be so negative.

A bar of soap is fine if you're just attending a con, but if you're prepping a cosplay you might want to be a little more involved with your pre-con hygenics. Not that I can speak from experience or anything.

A bar of soap is fine if you're just attending a con, but if you're prepping a cosplay you might want to be a little more involved with your pre-con hygenics. Not that I can speak from experience or anything.

According to an unnamed anonymous Koala-bear Kangaroo that shall remain unnamed for anonymity reasons... the scene prior to action in the bathroom was a filled with more expletives than a Psychostick CD!!

Two corrections. One, the screams of agony were afterward, when it started growing back and I had to wear my nylon slacks to work anyway. Clearing the hair took lots of time but no agony was involved, I assure you.

Two corrections. One, the screams of agony were afterward, when it started growing back and I had to wear my nylon slacks to work anyway. Clearing the hair took lots of time but no agony was involved, I assure you.

Two, I'm not Japanese, so the name's in Katakana. ノマケ・ワン

Now back to your regularly-scheduled pre-con skin prep thread!

ほわっと！？コンゴウ・じあおう～だぜんっとのうはうツすぺ～るイン二ホン5ですw

Furthermore, I can't stress the importance of a good full body wax job over shaving~

According to an unnamed anonymous Koala-bear Kangaroo that shall remain unnamed for anonymity reasons... the scene prior to action in the bathroom was a filled with more expletives than a Psychostick CD!!

thats true, but you'd probably have a nice 2-day long nap with an additional 2 days with an uneasy stomach.

lol a quick lyric search and ctrl+F function gave a whopping 429 instances of the word.so that would make a total of 430 words after you add tour own to the song. after a quick set of calculations thats only 13,140 ounces just for the song itself. that should be equal to 1 huge bottle. thats if you even survive it to see the end of the complete game.

Does anyone have advice for acne, blackheads, and other facial issues?

Rule no. 1 NEVER EVER EVER EVER pop a zit. (Also, do not scrub skin that is broken out. It'll just make things worse and spread bacteria.)

Rule no. 2 Rule 1 can be broken ONLY if using a sterilized pin against cleaned and sanitized skin. I recommend using a silk pin as they're very sharp and extremely thin and meant for piercing delicate silk fabric while leaving behind the smallest hole.

Does anyone have advice for acne, blackheads, and other facial issues?

Pretty much what Kyon & Ceci said. Although if you're serious about getting rid of zits in the long run, there's only two remedies:

Cure #1:Eat right and exercise.

- No chocolate, no soda, no chips, no bread, no restaurants and/or fast food, no orange juice, no sunflower seeds, no sugar-free bubble gum, don't even look at a glass of Kool-Aid, no nothing! (Ohhh Yeahhhh!!)- Only and only drink water, lot's of it. Eat vegetables and fish, that's it. 3 small meals per day, no snacks.- Run 3 miles every day of the week, including slacker-sundays. One mile in the morning, one mile at lunch, and one mile before you go to bed.- You can have One Orange once a month... that's your guilty pleasure.

Cure #2:Wait until you're exactly 26 years old.

- Pimples magically go away when you're 26 years old. Unless you eat McDonald's every day... then it might take a couple of more decades to completely sweat out those greasy zits.